This simple, delicious crab linguine takes me back to the week we spent camping in Cornwall, at the tip of the Lizard peninsula.

Once the seven-hour drive and rigamarole of pitching camp was behind us, we spent our days cliff walking, beach lazing, and body surfing, and our nights toasting marshmallows and sipping whisky round the campfire.

Before leaving London, I’d had the brainwave of freezing a few meals in large ziplock bags. These served as ice blocks for the cooler, keeping the milk and butter cool while they slowly thawed (a system that worked surprisingly well) until I heated them up on our little gas burner.

Pasta cacio e pepe is the most Roman of dishes for me. With only three ingredients – pasta, pecorino and pepper – it sounds deceptively simple. The trick lies in successfully transforming the grated cheese and pasta water into a creamy sauce. Continue reading →

If there’s one recipe that stands out as a clear family favourite, it would definitely be chickpea pasta soup. I’ve been making this soup for years, and we haven’t tired of it yet. It’s easy to make, smells wonderful while it simmers, is delicious to eat, and tastes even better the following day.

It’s a great dinner to follow a big Sunday lunch, but filling enough to be the main event as well. It’s vegetarian, and popular with most kids I feed it to (aside from the odd garlic hater). I clipped the original recipe from the newspaper a good ten years ago, but it’s evolved into our own version. Continue reading →